Trumpets

Pavel Kurdakov

In the orchestra since 2007

Pavel Kurdakov graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory in 2000. At the time of his studies in the conservatory he met Teodor Currentzis. In 2007, he became the head of the musicAeterna Chamber Orchestra at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, and since then he has been working at musicAeterna both as a musician and in managerial positions.

In 2003, he entered the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg where he studied with Professor Mathias Hofs. As a guest trumpeter, he performed at the opera houses of Hamburg and Bremen.

Since 2007, he has been working as a trumpeter of the musicAeterna orchestra. From 2007 to 2012, he held the position of the manager of the musicAeterna Chamber Orchestra at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, and after relocating to Perm, he participated in the formation of musicAeterna’s large symphonic instrumentation.

In 2012 he left the position of the orchestra manager remaining advisor to Teodor Currentzis on orchestra affairs. In February 2021, after the orchestra had moved to St. Petersburg, he resumed the position of the orchestra manager.

HOW DID YOU COME TO BE A MUSICIAN?

I was born into a family of musicians — my dad is a clarinettist, and my mom is a theorist. My father directed a children's brass band that toured the Soviet Union extensively, and my path into music began with a desire to play in this band and travel with them. I've always wanted to play the trumpet. My father insisted that I start with viola lessons, and it was only a year later that I switched to trumpet.

HOW DID YOU START WORKING AT MUSICAETERNA?

I met Teodor at the St Petersburg Conservatory when we were students. Later, when I was graduating from the Higher School of Music in Germany, Teodor called me in Hamburg and offered to join his orchestra in Novosibirsk. At that time, musicAeterna mainly had string players, there were only two brass players, and all in all there were twenty-five people in the ensemble.

It seems to me that Teodor’s genius lies in his ability to convincingly convey his conducting idea to each musician. The result, which we achieve through many hours of scrupulous work, finally convinces us that perfection could and even should be pursued. Teodor calls this an ‘uncompromising option’.

I am happy to work with such an orchestra and such a conductor. musicAeterna is a unique ensemble, one might call it a family. The level that we have reached over the years strikes not only fellow musicians, but also audiences worldwide.

WHAT COMPOSITIONS DO YOU DREAM OF PERFORMING?

I don't consider myself a soloist, but there are certain compositions that I would like to perform with the orchestra. For example, the trumpet solo from the Soviet movie Three Friends. I would like to play Mahler's Symphony No. 7 as part of the orchestra. We haven't performed it with musicAeterna yet, but it's extremely interesting in composition and character.

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME?

I love going to museums on tour. I have been to most of the largest museums in the world: the Prado, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, national galleries of different countries. I especially love the Russian Museum. I try to bring an album from each museum so that my children can also get involved in art and cultivate a taste along with me.

I would like to take up painting seriously when I have more free time. Now I draw well, but not in oil — I would like to learn this technique. I am inspired by the works of the Russian ‘masters of light’ Arkhip Kuindzhi and Ivan Aivazovsky, I love painting of the 18th century, but I am surfeited with impressionism. I strive to find lesser-known artists who lived and worked at the same time as the great ones. As is the case, for example, with the little-known music of Salieri, who lived and worked in the time of Mozart, I believe such masters could be underestimated.

I have three children. I try to spend all my free time with them. My son plays football, we support Zenit together. And in hockey we support Magnitogorsk Metallurg, the best hockey team. My youngest daughter is engaged in equestrian sports, I accompany her at her trainings and help her with music lessons — she plays the piano. The eldest daughter is studying to be a designer, and we often discuss with her everything related to the visual arts and the world of design. Communication with children, their interests, and quality time together require attention and effort, and I am happy that I manage to find time for this.

WHAT'S ON YOUR PLAYLIST RIGHT NOW?

While my taste in music often changes, orchestral recordings of masterpieces, brass ensembles and Hollywood film music remain constant. In films you can often hear the unusual sound of brass instruments. For example, in Tarantino’s films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, there are powerful trumpet solos. Also, there are jazz artists on my playlist. I especially love Gregory Porter’s recordings. And among those of the orchestral soloists, I listen to my professor Mathias Hofs. Our long-term friendship continues from the time of my studies in Hamburg to the present day. Mathias is my idol — he is a virtuoso musician, an intellectual, an excellent family man and simply a very good person from whom I have learned a lot and from whom I continue to take an example.